Ferrari quit FOTA, Red Bull reportedly as well

Dec 2, 2011, 14:52 GMT

Berlin - Ferrari have quit the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) over a dispute on cost-cutting in the sport, the Italian team said on Friday.

The news came after the autosport.com website said that Ferrari and constructors' champions Red Bull were quitting the organization over the unsolved Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA). Red Bull are yet to confirm the report.

'Ferrari has informed FOTA President Martin Whitmarsh that it is leaving the organisation made up of the teams competing in the Formula One World Championship,' Ferrari said in a statement on its website.

The Italian team said that Formula One must become more 'user friendly and more accessible to the general public' with the help of more testing opportunities and that the sport must again be a 'test bed for advanced technological research.'

'Ferrari will continue to work with the other teams to make the current RRA, Resource Restriction Agreement, aimed at controlling costs, more effective and efficient, modifying it to make it more stringent in key areas such as aerodynamics, to rebalance some aspects such as testing and to expand it to areas currently not covered such as engines.'

Autosport said that Red Bull and Ferrari are to meet with representatives of the other big teams, McLaren and Mercedes, in the near future in order to find a solution - ultimately for all FOTA teams.